Hinged top wringer



May 12, 1942. NI L, ETTEN l 2,282,954

- HINGED TOP WRINGER Filed March 25, 1940 4 sheetssheet 1 May 12, 1942- N. 1 ETTEN HINGED TOP WRINGER Filed March 25,' 1940 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 May 12,1942. N. L. ETTEN 2,282,954

HINGED TOP WRINGER Filed March 25, 1940\ 4 SheetsFSheet 3 A f7 i5 y; j?

,FTW

May 12, 1942.

N. L. ETTEN l HINGED TOP WRINGER Filed March 25, 1940 4 sheets-sheet 4 Patented May 12, 1942 UNITED EATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

wringer having a top frame separable'from the` respective main frames wherein a hinged connection is provided between the top frame and the main frame in order that the action of gravity may cause the top to come to rest on the main frame in proper position, such that the reset lever may be immediately and successfully operated without the necessity of manually manipulating the wringer frame in order to bring the locking elements of the wringer into proper co-operating position.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a Wringer having a top frame composed of end sections substantially coextensive with the main frame of the wringer and interconnected by a center portion of reduced cross section, such that a pivoted release bar may be mounted thereover to extend between the end portions of the wringer head to t substantially flush with the outline of these end portions and follow their general contour to provide a substantially smooth and uninterrupted surface for the wringer top.

Another object of the invention is to provide a wringer reset lever comprising 'a comparatively short lever adapted to swing in a wide arc about a horizontal plane whereby relatively large mechanical advantage would'be obtained by a lever handle positioned at all times closely adjacent the walls of the wringer housing.

Further objects will appear hereinafter.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view taken substantially on the center line of a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a detail plan sectional view taken substantially on the plane of the line 2 2 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a transverse detail sectional view taken substantially on the plane of the line 3 3 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a fragmental transverse sectional view taken substantially on the plane of the line 4 4 of Fig. 1; and e Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially on the plane of the line 5 5 of Fig. 1.

In the prior art it has 'been common practice to provide wringers including a frame, a top head, and locking members, as for example, a rotatable shaithaving locking portions therein in order to firmly lock a top -head in operating position on the frame. It has been necessary, however, after the emergency release has been actuated to manually position the top head on the wringei` and guide the co-operating parts with the'locking mechanism into proper spaced relationship in order that the operation of the reset lever will be effective to cause these 'parts to properly interlock. In the present invention this difficulty ,is overcome by the provision of a pair of hinges on the wringer top arranged at each end of the wringer in order that the forces of gravity acting on the wringer head will cause it to swing about these hinges and come into proper position so that the operation of the reset lever may lock the top head to the frame.

It has also been quite customary in the prior art to provide manually operable wringer release bars arranged to extend along the wringer rolls in order to provide a convenient means for ac tuating the pressure sustaining latch of the wringer. So far as isV known to the applicant, however, these release kbars have invariably taken the form of appendages or projections on the out-v side of the wringer frame or top head and have never been arranged to follow the contour of the wringer in such a manner as to provide a sub-v stantially uninterrupted top frame surface. This result is highly desirable from the standpoint of the attractive commercialdesign that has been accomplished inthe present invention by the provision of a reduced center portion ofthe wringer`v top head so arranged that the release bar maybe' mounted thereoverand shaped to provide an uninterrupted, smooth top surface of the wringer head.

The main frame I!! of the wringer may be constructed in any way customarily used in the art but in the particularstructure illustrated it comprises an integral die-casting including a longitudinally extending portion I2 and vertical extending bearing'slideways I3 and I4 at each end thereof. The entire frame I0 is mounted on a gear housing or power head I5 which is ofsimilar die-cast construction and whichincludes agear chamber I6 closed by a face plate I'l and a mounting sleeve I8 by which the entire Wringer structure may be telescoped onto the wringer driveI column of a washing machine. machine drive column includes a driving shaft which may be coupled to the vertical drive shaft 2I of the wringer by any coupling mechanism, not illustrated, ofany of the types customarily-used in the art.

The drive shaft 2l is journaledr'in,bearingsyV 22 and 23 at its upper and-lower vends respectively and is restrained against upward move-V ment by the top wall of the bearing 22 and re- Such a washing 2| and arranged for free longitudinal and rotational movement with respect thereto. These pinions 26 and 21 comprise forward and reverse driving elements for the wringing rolls and are arranged to be driven from the shaft 2| whenever the pinions are moved longitudinally along the shaft suiciently so that the projections 3| on the gear 26 will be engaged by the cross pin 32 or so that the projections 33 on the pinion 21 will be engaged by the cross pin 34 carried on the shaft 2|. j

The longitudinal movement of the pinions 26 and 21 is accomplished by means .of a shifting yoke 35 extending between the two pinions and adapted to ride in annular grooves 36 cut in the toothed faces of each. A central opening in the shifting gear 35 is mounted on an eccentric pin 31 carried by the stub crank shaft 38 on which the manual control arm 39 is mounted. This general type of mechanism is well understood in the art, it being believed sufficient to point out that by the manipulation of the handle 39 the pinions 26 and 21 will be shifted longitudinally from the neutral centralposition illustrated to either a forward or reverse driving position wherein one of the pinions will be driven by one of the cross pins 32 or 34 and the driving force thus imparted to the pinion will be transmitted from the pinion teeth to the meshing gear 4|. The gear 4| is at all times in mesh with both pinions butwhenever one of the pinions is driving, the other pinion is absolutely free with respect to the shaft 2| and may idle in an opposite direction. rIhe gear 4| is carried by a stub shaft 42 extending through a bearing 43 in the face plate |1 and interconnecting the gear 4| with a spur gear 44 which in turn meshes with a spur gear 45 aixed to the extreme end of the shaft 46 on which the upper roll 41 is mounted.

The lower roll 48 includes a shaft 49 mounted at each end in identical bearings carried by the channel-shaped transverse supports 52. These supports 52 are arranged to exert a resilient upward pressure on the bearings 5| and thus maintain suicient operating pressure between the upper wringer roll41 and the lower wringer roll 48. on the `lower ends of a pair of spring pilot bolts 53 which extend upwardly through the roll supporting shoulders or shelves 54. The arrangement is such that the channel members 52 are each suspended between two of the bolts 53 and are urged upwardly against the lower surface of the bearings 5| by the two coiled compression springs 55 telescoped on the bolts 53'and arranged to seat on the upper surfaces of the shelves 54 and act upwardly against the hexagonal head portions of the bolts 53. The upper roll 41 has its shaft 46 journaled in a pair pf bearings 48 and 49 each solidly mounted on a pair of oppositely disposed lugs 5| formed integrally with the top frame or head 52 of the wringer.

A longitudinally extending shaft 54 is rotatbly mounted in bearings 55 in the top head 52 and is cut away at short portions adjacent each end of the shaft, as shown at 56, to provide semicylindrical locking sections 51 adapted to engage with and lock against locking plates 58 provided adjacent each end of the wringer rolls and secured to the lower frame |0 by a plurality of machine screws 59. It is considered desirable to b e able to rotate this shaft 54 by the actuation of a short lever arranged to swing in awide arc and to remain close to the wringer frame at" To this end members 52 are mounted all times and to this end a bevel gear 6| s pinned to the extreme end of the shaft 54 and is positioned to mesh with a similar bevel gear 62 pinned to a vertical stub shaft 63 journaled at its upper end in a bearing 64 provided in a wringer top head casting and supported at its lower end by a bearing 65 in a removable plate 66 secured to the top head casting 52 by a plurality of machine screws 61. The stub shaft 63 is riveted to a circular plate 68 on which a ball shaped resetting handle 69 is secured. By reference to Fig. 2 it will be seen that to rotate the shaft 54 from its released position to the locked position illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, the ball handle 69 should be moved from the dotted line position illustrated in Fig. 2 through an arc of about 180 to the full line position. It will be appreciated that this arrangement provides a large leverage notwithstanding the fact that the ball handle 69 remains closely adjacent the wringerframe at all times.

The circular plate 68 is provided with a latch notch 10 positioned tomove into latching engagement with the pivoted latch member 1| as the ball handle 69 reaches the full line position illustrated. The latch member 1| is a general U-shaped structure and includes a pair of similar side plates 12 by Which the latch is pivotally mounted on a pair of trunnions 13, each riveted in an upturned ear portion 14 of the plate 66. A coiled wire spring 15 is mounted on these trunnions 13 and arranged to bear against the latch 1| and to be anchored by a lip 16 struck from the plate 66. The arrangement is such as to cause the latch 1| to tend to pivot in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 1 and thus cause the latch 1| to snap into the latching notch 18 when the ball handle 69 reaches its full line position and retain the plate 68 and the locking shaft 54 in locked engagement until the latch 1| is released.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a release bar contiguous with the top surface of the upper frame or top head of the wringer. To this end the top head 52 is provided with a central section 18 of greatly reduced cross section extending approximately the lengthof the wringer rolls and positioned directly above these rolls. It will be seen from examination of Figs. 1, 2, and 4 that this reduced center section 18 takes the form of an inverted U having its top surface 19 at a level considerably lower than the top surface of the end portions 8| and 82 of the wringer top head. This arrangement provides oppositely disposed faces 83 and 84 spaced apart from each other approximately the length of the wringer rolls. The release bar 85 is formed of such length as to t closely between these oppositely disposed faces and is shaped so that the upper surface of the release bar corresponds in shape to the contour of the end portions 8| and 82 of the wringer. A pivotal mounting for the release bar 85 is provided by forming a pair of openings 86 at each end of the bar 85 and inserting a spring pressed pin 81 within the opening, this pin 81 being formed to include a reduced outer end portion adapted to snap into position and seat in one of the perforations-SB in the faces 83 and 84 of the top frame 52.

To assemble the structure it is only necessary to seat the pins 81 in the openings 85 and then position the release bar 85 in registry with the openings 88 so that the pressure of the springs 86 may snap the pins 81 outwardlyr and establish pivotal connection at each end of the bar 85.

one of the latch levers 9|,

The bar 85 is operatively connected with the latch 1| by a pair of latch levers 9| extending through the flat face 84 to a position adjacent the latch side plates 12 and mounted on the trunnions 92 secured to the` inner surface of the top frame by a plurality of machine screws 93. The end portions 94 of each of these levers extend through openings 95 in the end wall 84 of the end portion of the wringer head and each is arranged to assume a position directly below a flat operating surface 96 formed on the release bar 85 (see Fig. 4). The opposite end of each of the levers 9| is provided with a riveted pin 91 which extends inwardly through elongated slots 98 in the opposed side walls 12 of the latch member 1|.

To operate the release mechanism the operator may strike either of the sides of the release bar 85 in such a mannr as to cause the bar 85 to pivot about the pins 81 as from the solid line position, as illustrated in Fig. 4, to the dotted line position shown. This pivotal movement in either direction will cause one of the at surfaces 96 to bear downwardly against the end portion 94 of thereby pivoting the latch lever 9| about the trunnion 92 and causing the pin 81 to move upwardly and pivot the latch 1| in a clockwise direction about the trunnions 13. This pivotal movement of the latch will release the circular plate 68 and, consequently, leave the locking shaft 54 free for rotation. With the latch released the upward force 55 will cause the wringer top 52 to swing angularly upwardly around the hinged pins |02. This motion will result in rotary movement of the shaft 54 until the vertical semi-cylindrical locking portions 51 clear the hooked portions of the plates 58, and since the shaft 54 is geared to the stub shaft 63 by the bevel gears 8| and 82, the rotary motion of the shaft will be transmitted to the plate 68 and will swing the knob 69 to its dotted line position. In this connection it will be seen that the hooked portion of each of the plates 58 is so placed and so arranged with respect to the semi-cylindrical portion 51 of the shaft 54 that the force exerted by the coiled pressure springs 55 and transmitted therefrom through the pilot bolts 53, transverse members 52, the bearing blocks the lower roll 48, and the upper roll 41 will act on the top frame 52, causing the locking portions 51 to release from the plates 58 and permitting the entire top head 52 to swing upwardly about a pair of hinges |0| and |02 provided adjacent each end of the top head 52 and joining the top head 52 and the main frame |0.

The hinges |0| and |02 thus permit a complete release of the pressure between the rolls and a complete separation of the top head 52 from the main frame |0, but when this has been accomplished the forces of gravity will act to bring the top head 52 downwardly and the hinges |0| and |02 will at this time guide the top head so that the semi-cylindrical locking portions 51 of the shaft 54 come into exact predetermined position with respect to the upper hooked portions of the plates 58 in order that these parts may properly engage when the ball shaped resetting lever 69 is operated. Thus, it is unnecessary for the operator to grasp the top head of the wringer and manipulate it in any way to bring the locking elements 51 and 58 into adjacent positions. In fact,

of the springs it is only necessary to swing the lever 69 from its dotted line position to its full line position. This action, of course, will cause the bevel gears 1| and the locking shaft 54 to rotate and as this locking shaft reaches its locked position the spring 15 will cause the latch 1| to engage the latching notch 10 and restrain the several parts against releasing movement until such time as the release bar is again operated.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of the invention in compliance with the patent statutes, it is subject to numerous modifications and alterations without departing from the invention spirit and I therefore wish to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

l. In a wringer including a frame, a spring, and a pair of pressure rolls, th-e combination of a tophead, a reset shaft extending longitudinally of said head and provided with semi-cylindrical locking sections, hook members stationarily attached to the frame, hinge means interconnecting said frame and said top head and adapted to guide the locking sections of said reset shaft into close relationship with said hook members, means to rotate said reset shaft toward a locked position, a latch for said shaft, and a manually operable release for said latch.

2. In a wringer including a frame, a spring, and a pair of pressure rolls, the combination of a top head, a reset shaft extending longitudinally of said head and provided with semi-cylindrical locking sections, hook members stationarily attached to the frame, hinge means interconnecting said frame and said top head and adapted to guide the locking sections of said reset shaft into close relationship with said hook members, a stub shaft, a bevel gear connection between said reset shaft and said stub shaft, a short reset lever mounted on said stub shaft and adapted to swing` in a wide angle, and a manually releasable latch for said lever.

3. In a wringer including a frame, a spring, and a pair of pressure rolls, the combination of a top head, a reset shaft extending longitudinally of ksaid head and provided with semi-cylindrical locking sections, hook members stationarily attached to the frame, hinge means interconnecting said frame and said top head and adapted to guide the locking sections of said reset shaft into close relationship with said hook members, means to rotate said reset shaft toward a locked position, a latch forv said shaft, and a manually operable release for said latch, said release mechanism including a release bar pivotally mounted between two end portions of the top head and shaped tofollow the general contour of these portions.

4. In a wringer including a frame, a spring, and a pair of pressure rolls, the combination of a top head having end portions substantially coextensive with said frame and a central portion of diminished cross section, said top head being of unitary construction and shaped to provide oppositely disposed faces on the end sections at each end of the diminished center portion; a release bar over said center portion shaped to t closely adjacent said faces, registering openings in each of said opposite faces, openings in each end of said release bar adapted to register with said first mentioned openings, and spring urged pivot pins to establish pivotal connection between the top head and the release bar when said openings move to positions of registry.

NICHOLAS L. ETTEN. 

